There's a way of judging work many creatives share. Let me explain it in the simplest way I know how: if the account people don't like it, it must be good.
This may seem like a contrarian way to evaluate work, but more often than not it's more accurate than the Hadron Collider (timely reference: you're welcome). And it's been especially on the money with my most recent gig.
Working in the glamorous world of direct (which my pal Janice so succinctly calls "a legacy of garbage"), my partner and I developed several emails and direct mail pieces for the client. When we presented to the deciders at the agency, the ones they absolutely hated were the ones we loved. To their credit, they presented them to the client, although I believe just as straw dogs to sell against.
You know how this story ends.
The client loved the ones we did. And now the account people are tripping over themselves saying how great they were, and implying they were their choices the whole time.
If you're doing work that doesn't scare or make anyone nervous, no matter what media form it takes, it's not worth doing.
It'll always be an uphill battle. But if you can get it in front of the client, more often than not they'll help you win it.
